211 Crew members sought by El Paso County in Tom Clements murder case

El Paso County Sheriff's investigators on Wednesday issued an alert seeking two 211 Crew members in connection with the murder investigation of state prisons chief Tom Clements.

"These are a couple of names that have come up during the ongoing investigation of the Clements' murder," said Lt. Jeff Kramer of the El Paso County Sheriff's Department.

Deputies are trying to find James Lohr, 47, and Thomas Guolee, 31, Kramer said. Both are associated with the white supremacist prison gang known as the 211 Crew, he said.

They should be considered armed and dangerous, Kramer said.

"Because of the circumstances where you have violent folks who are willing to execute a DOC official, we don't want to underestimate these guys," Kramer said.

James Lohr (Provided by El Paso County Sheriff's Office)

Investigators have said the main suspect in the killing of Clements and pizza delivery driver Nathan Leon is parolee Evan Ebel, a member of the 211 Crew who died in a shootout with Texas lawmen on March 21. A 9mm Smith & Wesson found with Ebel's body in Texas was used to kill Clements, investigators said.

Kramer did not say what role Lohr and Guolee might have played in the killing or why they are being sought, but officials said they believe the two men had been in contact with Ebel before the two slayings.

Lohr has an extensive criminal record dating back to 1985, including burglary, domestic violence, escape, theft and fraud, according to court records. He has two warrants issued for his arrest for bail violation and a protection-order violation.

Guolee has an extensive criminal record dating back to 2000, including assault, fraud, robbery, forgery and menacing, court records show. He is currently on parole in Colorado's southwest region, according to Colorado Department of Corrections records.

Guolee's Facebook page says he is married, and there are multiple pictures of him with a young girl.

Lohr is described as 6 feet tall, 160 pounds, with blond hair, brown eyes and several tattoos. Guolee is described as 5-feet-9, 160 pounds, with brown hair, blue eyes and several tattoos.

The alert issued by the sheriff's department did not list a vehicle for the men or indicate their possible direction of travel, but Kramer said authorities believe the men could be headed to Nevada or Texas.

A close acquaintance said Wednesday night that Lohr grew up in a strict Baptist home in Pennsylvania where he wasn't allowed to listen to rock music.

Lohr, who has four children, joined the army and was stationed at Fort Carson, the acquaintance said.

"He got involved in meth, and he changed. He was really irresponsible," she said. "He became violent."

He was arrested several times for beating his wife and the couple got divorced, she said. In the 1980s, he stole a motorcycle. The acquaintance said when he went to prison he joined a white supremacist gang for protection.

"I never thought of it as being dangerous," she said. "This is really weird. This is like 'The Twilight Zone.' "

Guolee's father, Phil, said prison turned his son into the man he is.

"He has been in there since he was 18. He couldn't get any help, couldn't get a good lawyer, couldn't get anything for him in Colorado," said Phil Guolee, who lives in Wisconsin.

There were rumors his son was a member of a prison gang, but Phil Guolee said he was not positive about that.

Thomas Guolee told his father that he was bipolar and that he was not allowed to have his medication in prison.

"They railroaded him," Phil Guolee said. "That's all they ever did."

Authorities have been searching for any ties in the Clements investigation between Ebel and the 211 Crew.

DOC sources have said the state is investigating whether a move of several 211 Crew leaders from Sterling to Buena Vista Correctional Complex to break up their power base might have prompted the attack on Clements.

DOC spokeswoman Alison Morgan said Wednesday she had not heard about El Paso County's search for the two white supremacists — one of whom is a DOC parolee — and she said she did not have an immediate comment.

The 211 Crew's founder and reputed "shot-caller" Benjamin Davis, 38, was moved to Buena Vista from Sterling.

Davis appeared in Denver District Court on Wednesday after an appeal. A judge resentenced him to 108 years on a racketeering conviction from 2007.

Ebel, 28, was released on mandatory parole from Sterling Correctional Facility on Jan. 28, and DOC documents show he removed his ankle monitoring device on March 14.

Ebel is suspected of killing Leon on March 17 and Clements at his Monument home on March 19.

A clerical error in the 11th Judicial District allowed Ebel to be released from prison Jan. 28 without serving any additional time for a 2008 conviction for assaulting a prison guard, despite the terms of a plea agreement that called for Ebel to serve a consecutive four-year term.

In addition to the clerical error, Ebel was released nearly four months early as a result of a 2011 law that allowed him and others to earn time off their sentences for time spent in administrative segregation.